As U.S. chef and food activist Alice Waters rolled out a four-course meal meant to inspire China to eat organic and sustainable foods, something other than pesticides was missing.

The founder of renowned Berkeley, Calif. restaurant Chez Panisse organized an elaborate dinner at the U.S. Embassy Wednesday night in Beijing as part of a move to spark a food revolution in China, helping Chinese consumers learn about eating organic foods that are in season and grown locally. But among the several hundred people to whom she dished out this meal—a carefully selected array of Beijing’s seasonal vegetables, followed by butternut squash tortellini, braised pork over mashed potatoes and apple strudel with ice cream—less than a third of the attendees were Chinese nationals.

A press representative of the U.S. Embassy, which was in charge of the guest list, said many more Chinese had been invited to the dinner than had attended. Declines flowed in the days before.

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To be sure, there were some Chinese in attendance, many of whom were well-known. Ge You, one of China’s most famous actors, and Phoenix Television anchor Xu Gehui were both there.

Ms. Waters hoped to inspire these cultural icons. “China is at a critical turning point,” Ms. Waters said ahead of the dinner. Fast food restaurants are popping up on every corner, and the pressure to speed up the pace of life, eating on the go, is increasing, she said.

But at the dinner, the opening event of a four-day cultural forum sponsored by the Asia Society and Aspen Institute, little was uttered about eating foods free of chemicals and buying from nearby farms. Not a word of Chinese was said. Only a toast was offered as a tribute to a potential food movement in China. “Lift a glass of wine to the people taking care of the land,” Ms. Waters said.

A food revolution is only at best in its infancy in China, says Zhang Yinghui, who is one of China’s more prominent food activists and also attended the dinner. Chinese have been buying organic foods, but they’ve largely been buying out of fear after countless food scandals have threatened the health and lives of average citizens.

Ms. Zhang, while well-informed about China’s agricultural industry and green farming, is far less vocal than the organic and slow food backers in the West. “There’s less of push here because Chinese, after all, still care about food, even if it is under threat,” Ms. Zhang said.

“Chinese families still eat together at a table every night,” said Ms. Zhang.

There are some chefs around China who are contributing to a more conscious way of feeding people, sourcing their vegetables and meat locally. Dai Jianjiun, who runs his restaurant out of Hangzhou, an affluent city south of Shanghai, is one.

“Unfortunately, these kinds of restaurants are made available only to the wealthy and the government,” Ms Zhang said, adding that the growth of the organic industry in China has largely been propelled by this subset of the population.

Critics of the organic movement in West have made similar statements, which could have been applied to Ms. Waters’ dinner in China, where the U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke sat across from author Amy Tan on Wednesday, feasting on organic bread and carrots that had been plucked from a nearby farm only hours before.

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